Dowse Sod House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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William R. Dowse House
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View from the northeast.
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 Location in Nebraska
Location in the United States
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| Location | 80560 Oak Grove Rd. |
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| Nearest city | Comstock, Nebraska |
| Built | 1900 |
| NRHP reference No. | 86003365 |
The William R. Dowse House, also known as the Dowse Sod House, is a special house in Custer County, Nebraska. It's called a sod house because it was built using blocks of earth with grass roots.
This house was built in 1900 and people lived in it until 1959. After many years of being empty, it was fixed up starting around 1981. It opened as a museum in 1982. The Dowse Sod House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's a great example of how people built homes on the Great Plains long ago. It's also one of the few sod houses still standing in Nebraska.
Contents
What are Sod Houses?
Imagine moving to a new place where there are almost no trees! That's what happened to many settlers in the Great Plains of the United States. In the 1800s, the Homestead Act allowed people to claim land if they built a house and farmed the land.
But without trees, building a log cabin was impossible. Bringing wood from far away was too expensive. So, clever settlers found a solution: they built houses from sod. Sod is like thick grass with strong roots that hold the soil together.
Why Build with Sod?
Sod houses were a smart choice for many reasons:
- Cheap and Fast: A simple sod house could be built in about a week. It cost less than five dollars!
- Great Insulation: The thick sod walls kept the house cool in summer and warm in winter. This was important because there wasn't much firewood.
- Strong Against Storms: Sod walls were very strong. Even if a tornado hit, the walls often stayed standing, even if the roof blew off.
- Safe from Fires: Sod houses were also safer during prairie fires. Farmers often plowed a clear area around the house to stop fires.
Challenges of Sod Homes
Living in a sod house wasn't always easy.
- Dirt Floors: Most sod houses had dirt floors. People often sprinkled water on them to keep the dust down.
- Pests: To keep out rodents, insects, and snakes, people often smoothed the inside walls. They would plaster them with clay or lime.
- Leaky Roofs: Early sod roofs could leak water, mud, and even bugs. To protect furniture, people often hung a white cloth ceiling.
- Small Windows: Windows were expensive. So, sod houses often had few and small windows. The light-colored ceilings and walls helped make the inside brighter.
Even when wood became easier to get, some people still built sod houses. The Dowse house was built in 1900, even though a lumber company was nearby. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, some farmers built sod houses again because they had lost their homes.
How Sod Houses Were Built
Building a sod house started with finding the right kind of sod. The best sod had strong, dense roots to hold the blocks together. Grasses like buffalo grass or bluestem were perfect.
First, the builders cleared the grass from the house site. They often dug down a foot or two. This made the walls shorter and meant less sod was needed. The floor was then packed down hard.
To cut the sod blocks, people sometimes used a special "grasshopper plow." This plow could cut uniform strips of sod. These strips were then cut into blocks. The blocks were heavy, so they had to be a size that people could lift. A typical block might be about 4 inches (10 cm) deep, 12 inches (30 cm) wide, and 24 to 36 inches (60 to 90 cm) long.
The sod blocks were laid like bricks, one layer at a time. Walls were usually two or three blocks thick. Builders made sure the joints didn't line up. This helped make the walls stronger and kept out wind and pests. Every few layers, blocks were laid crosswise to tie the wall together.
Early sod houses had sod roofs. These roofs were heavy, which helped them stay on in strong winds. They also added insulation. But sod roofs could drip water and dirt. Later, people used wood shingles, tarpaper, or metal for roofs when they could get these materials.
The Dowse Sod House Story
The Dowse family were among the first settlers in Custer County, Nebraska. Lewis R. and Sarah M. Dowse arrived in 1873. They first lived in a dugout home, then built a simple slab house. They raised nine children there.
Building William Dowse's Home
In October 1900, William Dowse, one of Lewis and Sarah's sons, married Florence Murphy. William was living in a dugout near his parents' farm. By April 1900, a new sod house was being built for the couple. Florence's father, John Murphy, was good at building sod houses. He helped William, along with friends and neighbors.
The sod blocks for the house came from bluestem grass, probably from very close by. The grass was cut short, and the blocks were cut with a grasshopper plow. The walls were built with the grass side of the sod blocks facing down. The walls were thick, about 27 inches (69 cm) at the bottom and 20 inches (51 cm) at the top.
The house was shaped like the letter "L". It had a steeply sloped wood-shingled roof. Inside, there were three rooms separated by wood walls. There was a small bedroom, a large kitchen and hall, and a parlor and dining room. The floors were packed dirt. The inside of the sod walls was plastered with a mix of clay, straw, and even hog hair!
The house had two doors and several windows. The windows were flush with the outside walls. But inside, the window openings were wider. This helped more light get into the rooms.
Life in the Sod House
William and Florence Dowse raised five sons in this house. As the family grew, they made changes to the house.
- In 1915, the cloth ceiling was replaced with plaster.
- Two years later, wood floors were put in.
- In 1924, they added two more rooms. One was a laundry room. The other was a new section on the west side of the house. This is where William Jr. and his wife lived.
- The house eventually got electricity, but never indoor plumbing.
In 1935, they added concrete to the lower part of the outside sod walls. This was to protect the walls from rain and erosion.
The house was very strong. In the early 1940s, a tornado hit the farm. All the other farm buildings were destroyed. But the sod house was fine, except for a sawhorse that blew through a window!
William Dowse lived in the house until he passed away in 1951. His wife, Florence, stayed for two more years. The last people to live in the house were William Dowse Jr.'s family, who left in 1959.
Bringing the House Back to Life
After 1959, the house was empty for over 20 years. The roof was damaged, and all the windows and doors were broken. Even cattle walked through the house!
Around 1981, William and Florence Dowse's sons, Philip and Curtis, decided to fix up the house. The local community club also helped. They raised over $6,000 for the project.
They built a fence to keep cattle out. They fixed the roof and put on new shingles. The outside walls were repaired with new sod blocks. They also added more concrete coating in some places. New doors and windows were put in. Inside, they cleaned out the dirt and fixed the wood floors. They patched the plaster on the walls and even put up new wallpaper. They also brought in old furniture and items from the pioneer era, like a cast-iron stove.
In May 1982, the Dowse Sod House opened as a museum. In 1986, it was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places. Philip and Curtis Dowse even received an award for their hard work in restoring the house. Today, the Dowse Sod House is a popular place for tourists to visit and learn about life on the Great Plains.
Images for kids
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View from the northeast.
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South-facing kitchen window. Notice how thick the wall is!
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Sod blocks in the upper part of the north wall of the Dowse house. You can still see grass!
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Monument at the Lewis Dowse homestead site.
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The restored parlor-dining room.
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North wall of house, with concrete coating on lower portion and exposed sod blocks visible under eaves.
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The restored kitchen.
